Portable data entry devices are known for use in automatic identification systems, such as the bar code industry as an example. Portable data entry devices such as bar code scanners, radio frequency identification devices, and key-entry based hand held computers are used for applications such as inventory tracking, in store order entry, package delivery, route sales, or the like. Various dedicated products have been developed for this purpose, such products including a bar code scanning system, a radio frequency identification system, a data processing system, and communications features. Although such devices provide desired attributes of portability along with data capture and communication capabilities, the devices are expensive and relatively inflexible in their operation.
There have also been developed personal electronic organizers and personal digital assistant (PDA) devices. PDA devices are handheld devices with information input means and personal information management (PIM) software such as to-do lists, contact lists, and appointments. PDA devices have significant processing capabilities related to performing the desired functions.
Compared with portable data entry devices, PDA devices have the benefit of the economies of scale. Therefore PDA devices are less expensive, more compact, and offer higher performance in several areas by employing new technologies at a faster pace. Consequently, it would be advantageous to employ PDA devices for portable data entry applications. However, PDA devices lack several key features essential to many of the portable data entry applications, such as barcode scanners, keyboards with numeric and/or alphabetic characters, wireless communication systems, and radio frequency identification readers.
Another key feature missing in the PDA devices is ruggedness, which is essential when the user is mobile during the use of the device. (In contrast, the users of PDA devices are generally stationary during the actual use of the device). Additionally, PDA devices are not configured with a form factor to allow simple portable data entry in the variety of different environments in which portable data entry devices are used.
Some manufacturers of the barcode industry have attempted to solve these problems by licensing the internal electronic assemblies of the PDA devices from their suppliers and packaging them with portable data entry features in custom designed cases. Examples of such products are models SPT-1500 and SPT-1700 from Symbol Technologies of Holtsville, N.Y. However, this process is time consuming and requires expensive re-engineering, which has to be repeated with the introduction of each new PDA. Also, since the resulting devices are produced in smaller volumes, significant benefits of using the PDA technology are lost.
Some manufacturers have provided devices for adding peripheral functions to PDA devices. One example of such a cradle is model 6016 Handheld Printer from Monarch division of Paxar Corporation of White Plains, N.Y. Another example of a device is the Card Expansion Pak unit provided by Compaq Computer Corporation of Houston, Tex. for its iPAQ Pocket PC units. Although these products do a good job of adding a special feature to the PDA such as printing and card slots, they fail to make the PDA devices suitable for portable data entry because they do not provide the characteristics and flexibility for use in various portable data entry applications. Further, such devices don't provide the ruggedness, size, and shape to facilitate handheld operation when the user is mobile during the use of the device.
In addition to the above drawbacks, the current art does not fulfill an established need in the industry of a device that is capable of operating, in some capacity, on a standalone basis without inclusion of a PDA device. This need stems from the fact that certain portable data entry operations are not processor intensive and hence do not require the use of a PDA unit as a part of the data entry solution. By selectively eliminating the PDA in such data entry operations, the weight of the handheld solution can be kept minimal while maintaining the option of using a PDA in other applications that may be relatively much more processor intensive.
Cellular telephones and combined cellular telephones and PDA's have been developed. In a combined device, a cellular telephone and a PDA are fully integrated into a single unit. These combined units tend to be larger than a PDA or a cellular telephone by itself and may be more cumbersome to use than the individual device (i.e., PDA or cellular telephone).
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.